The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
Attorney sanctioned for “improper and vexatious act of retaliation”
By Katherine Nettles
An ongoing legal dispute involving several Lake Irwin property owners and a Gunnison County road may soon be headed for trial. Gunnison County District Court issued orders last month on motions from two of the three parties involved and issued sanctions against the legal counsel for one of the parties for having filed a motion that was considered improper.
Irwin property owner JW Smith, whose property is adjacent to Green Lake Road, has for years blocked access to the road to prevent trespassing on his own property. The plaintiff in the multi-year lawsuit is a coalition of nearby property owners, and Gunnison County is a named party. The county and the plaintiff, Lake Irwin Coalition (LIC) have challenged that the road should be declared public and the obstruction removed.
Smith most recently requested permission to file a supplemental counterclaim, arguing that the LIC violated the court’s trial management order by asking the court to modify it given applicable circumstances. Gunnison County in turn sought sanctions against Smith and his attorney, Rufus Wilderson, for pursuing a counterclaim that they believed lacked legal support.
District Court judge Kellie Starritt ruled on November 5 denying Smith’s counterclaim against the LIC, which also involved Gunnison County. “The motion advances a legally frivolous claim of liability against the county without any rational basis,” wrote Starritt, adding that the motion “lacks a proper purpose” and was “an improper and vexatious act of retaliation that has increased the county’s legal expenses.”
The order did grant Gunnison County’s motion for sanctions against Smith’s attorney, but not against Smith. “There is no evidence that Smith knew or had reason to know that Mr. Wilderson filed a frivolous motion on his behalf,” wrote Starritt.
The court has not yet determined the amount of the sanctions award. The county filed a supplemental affidavit seeking $16,476 based on related fees incurred and Wilderson will have an opportunity to respond.
“While the county is pleased with the court’s decision, it is regrettable that it has come to this,” wrote Gunnison County attorney Matthew Hoyt in a statement to the Crested Butte News. “Since the beginning of this case, the court has urged the mining claim owners along the Green Lake Road to sit down with us and try to reach a compromise that both allows the public to use the road and allows the mining claim owners to use and enjoy their property. This is how problems should be solved in the Gunnison Valley. Instead, the claim owners have either refused to talk or made impossible demands, choosing instead to have their lawyers fight the county at every turn. Thanks to them, what should have been resolved years ago has turned into a costly and unnecessary battle that benefits no one except lawyers who get paid by the hour. Fortunately, the court agreed with the county that legal falsehoods have no place here. The county will continue to fight to reopen Green Lake Road so long as the mining claim owners insist on combat rather than compromise.”
The News also reached out to the LIC and to Smith’s attorney regarding the case and recent ruling. Smith’s attorney declined to comment, and the LIC did not respond.
